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DOCUMENTARY IDEA COULDN'T WAIT FOR MONEY

July 20, 2016

Jason Baumgardner remembers well the first film book he ever read, “Rebel Without A Crew” by Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez has gone on to be an accomplished filmmaker and collaborator of director Quentin Tarantino, but he started from nothing...
“I was inspired by that. When you have an idea, you go do it. You don’t sit around and wait for money to come or the timing to be right. Sometimes, you have to do it right now or it’s not going to happen.”

WEB SERIES PROVES FILMMAKER ISN'T OUT OF HIS LEAGUE

November 18, 2009

Jason Baumgardner said his dad, Karl, always seemed to have a video camera around when he was a kid, so picking one up to see what he could film was sort of natural. There was a lot of forgettable footage in those formative years...​

INSIDE THE MAKING OF DFS DOCUMENTARY, “PERFECT LINEUP”

Sept 5, 2016

When Jason Baumgardner set out to make what he felt had the potential to be a trailblazing documentary about the ever-evolving daily fantasy sports industry, he was intent on spotlighting the persistence, hard work and willingness to fight the odds that it takes to succeed within it. As it turned out, he’d need a healthy dose of all three to see the fruits of his cinematic labor, Perfect Lineup, eventually come to fruition...

'SAMSON' FILM WAS BIBLICAL 'BRAVEHEART' FOR AMARILLO SCREENWRITER

February 15, 2018

Jason Baumgardner has obviously already seen the movie “Samson,” which opens this weekend in Amarillo and across the nation. As a screenwriter, he doesn’t have to stand in the popcorn line with everyone else. He had two thoughts as the movie ended.“As the credits went up, one of the most emotional parts for me was seeing the credits and all these jobs that were created from me sitting down at a coffee shop and putting words on a page,” he said.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHT

"Land or Sky" is a 16mm short film that held tight to the creative restraints of having only two characters within one location and using only two reels of film. Having limited time and resources, rehearsal and storyboarding were essential to get it all with limited takes. A heavy emphasis was placed on using subtext, blocking and the relational tension to convey the story.

written, directed, and edited by Jason Baumgardner

FEATURED SCENE

"Me3" is a film about the different paths each of us take in life and how each choice will have hardship and joy. In this scene, Megan has chosen the path to be a homemaker mom and her husband has just returned home.

The scene was originally written as a lunch around the dining table. With time running out on the day, I put the needed dialogue into this originally-planned "off camera action" to create a new scene that was not included in the script.

The inability of being able to do multiple takes due to the shaving made it very important to make sure the actors were on-point and in the moment.

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written, directed, & produced by Jason Baumgardner

EPIC SCREENPLAY

The Biblical story of "Samson" is considered by some to be the first "real superhero" and I had always wanted to see it portrayed on screen in a realistic way to experience this epic story first hand.

Partnering with fellow filmmaker Zach Smith, we broke the story of this commonly viewed "unlikeable" figure by creating an even more unlikeable villain which created a way into this hero's journey.

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We wrote the screenplay on spec and producer Ian Campbell put it into the hands of Pure Flix Entertainment. They soon optioned the script and we rewrote the story for their core audience's sensibilities. Pure Flix gave other writers passes on the script and then brought us back on during production to aid in character arcs and story.

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It is exciting to see the final product of many collaborators come together to tell this epic story in a fresh and fun experience!